translations Archives - Page 3 of 10 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

“Archangel Saint Michael,” “Response to Satan”

July 4, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[Note: In l’Opinion des Femmes, the author of this pamphlet is identified as Jeanne Deroin.) Society for the Mutual Education of Women. RESPONSE TO SATAN ON THE SUBJECT OF MR. PROUDHON BY THE ARCHANGEL SAINT-MICHEL How long, O Satan, do you hope to persecute with impunity the children of the true God? You have assumed every form in order to establish your empire on the earth; now you believe your power so solidly based that you dare to reveal yourself by your true name; for it is you who suggested, to a pamphleteer misled by your perfidious inspirations, the strange […]

Paule Mink, “The Right of Abortion” (1891)

June 19, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Numerous, very sensational trials for the crime of suppression of children have taken place from the month of August 1891, to the same month in 1892, during one whole year, which we could call the year of abortions. In all the countries of Europe, in Russia, German, England, and France, and everywhere women have been prosecuted, and trials have been brought on these serious grounds. In Russian Poland, twelve women were arrested, and twenty were condemned in London, and in France we have had various legal actions for these heinous acts in Paris, Lyon, Béziers, and Villeneuve-les-Avignon — where the mayor, an imitator of Fourroux, aborted his dear constituents whom he had put at risk — and then that appalling affair in Clichy, in which 53 defendants were brought to the benches of infamy

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Proudhon, The Theory of Property — Chapter III (part 1 of 2)

June 16, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[Here is a particular rough working translation of a particularly interesting section of The Theory of Property. Because it never underwent the careful final editing that Proudhon gave his published works, the text poses a few extra problems for the translator. I think the handful of places where a little more work will be needed to clarify things will be fairly obvious to most readers.] THE THEORY OF PROPERTY CHAPTER III Different ways of possessing the land: in community, under the feudal system, sovereignty or property. — Examination of the first two modes: rebuttal. The earth can be possessed in […]

Joseph Déjacque, The Humanisphere — I

June 16, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[I posted some of this about a year and a half ago, but set it down again, not feeling comfortable enough with some of the contexts to be sure I was getting the details right. With the work that I’ve been doing recently translating Charles Fourier, Pierre Leroux, and some other works by Joseph Déjacque, I’m feeling much more certain that I’m catching nuances, so I’m going to start posting sections again, beginning with a considerably enlarged first helping.] The Humanisphere Anarchic Utopia Utopia: “A dream not realized, but not unrealizable.” Anarchy: “Absence of government.” Revolutions are conservations. (P. J. […]

Proudhon, The various meanings of the word property

June 12, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[Here’s the first section of Proudhon’s The Theory of Property, in rough English translation.] THEORY OF PROPERTY CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION § I. — The various meanings of the word property. In 1840, I promised to give a solution of the problem of property, and I renewed my promise in 1846. Today I keep my word. It is my turn to defend property, not against the phalansterians, the communists and the agrarians, who are no more, but against those who saved it in June 1848, in June 1849, in May 1830, in December 1851, and who have since brought it low. […]

Adrien Ranvier — Jeanne Deroin, A Feminist of 1848 — I

May 30, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

A FEMINIST OF 1848: Jeanne DEROIN This study of Jeanne Deroin is the work left by Adrien Ranvier, who died September 18, 1905, at Asniéres (Seine). Adrien Ranvier, born in 1807, son of Gabriel Ramier, member of the Commune, was raised, from 1871, by Madames Vincent and Mauriceau. Her father, Gabriel Ranvier, imprisoned after October 31 1870, was elected mayor of the XXth arrondissement and member of the Commune, March 26, 1871; was one of the last combatants of the Commune and only escaped from prison thanks to the shelter than he found in Asniéres, with the Girard and Mauriceau […]

Séverine — The Anarchists of Chicago

May 23, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE ANARCHISTS OF CHICAGO They have taken these four men full of life and health, cast over their shoulders the shrouds that shall, some few minutes later, wrap their twisted limbs, and hide their contorted faces—eyes bulging out of their orbits to punish them for having seen too far and too high into the future of humanity; tongues bulging from mouths, gags of purple flesh sealing forever these lips guilty of speaking of justice and truth! Their gait was unsteady, for their ankles were cut by the cords which hobbled their feet, as the legs of beasts are tied before […]

Joseph Déjacque on Revolution (from The Revolutionary Question)

May 13, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Of the Revolution Principles : Liberty, equality, fraternity Consequences: Abolition of government in all its forms, monarchic or republican, the supremacy of one alone or of majorities; But anarchy, individual sovereignty, complete, unlimited, absolute liberty of everyone to do everything which is in the nature of the human being. Abolition of Religion, whether catholic or Israelite, protestant or any other sort. Abolition of the clergy and the altar, of the priest,–curate or pope, minister or rabbi;–of the Divinity, idol in one or three persons, universal autocracy or oligarchy; But the human being,–at once creature and creator,–no longer having anything but […]

Joseph Déjacque, “The Universal Circulus”

May 9, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

The Universal Circulus (1858) Joseph Déjacque I The universal circulus is the destruction of every religion, of all arbitrariness, be it elysian or tartarean, heavenly or infernal. The movement in the infinite is infinite progress. This being the case, the world can no longer be a duality, mind and matter, body and soul. It cannot be a mutable thing and an immutable one, which involves contradiction—movement excluding immobility and vice versa—but must be, on the contrary, an infinite unity of always-mutable and always-mobile substance, which implies perfectibility. It is through eternal and infinite movement that the infinite and eternal substance […]

E. Armand’s Individualist Anarchist Initiation

May 5, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve started posting consecutive sections from E. Armand’s The Individualist Anarchist Initiation on the Libertarian Library blog. I started translating back in October, with the section on reciprocity, and promised at that point to begin at the beginning and work my way through the book. A number of things have intervened, most of them exciting and worthwhile, like the Bakunin project (about which there should be more news soonish), but here we go: Some lines of introduction Sketches of the Social Environment [2018 update — See the link above for the translations.] It’s a big book, with 279 numbered sections, […]